Bright campaign illumination coming

Tuesday , March 18, 2014 - 3:30 PM

John W. Reynolds

In the next 30 days a bright illumination will happen, "light bulbs’ will be turning on in the minds of the American electorate; illumination that will allow them to see there is a clear choice in November. They will be able to see through the fog that mainstream media has created about their chosen candidate, President Obama, they’ll see they aren’t better off today than four years ago.

They’ll see that the financial mess he inherited, created in part by his own party, could have been solved if he had taken a page out of Bill Clinton’s playbook and worked with bipartisan- support. People will see that the blame game isn’t working, that you can’t blame George for everything — from hurricanes to hemorrhoids, from hang nails to slow mail; it’s not all Bush’s fault. The statute of limitations ran out long ago

This illumination will come as a result of Romney’s all out campaign starting just before the debates. He’s been accumulating an enormous war-chest and will use it effectively in the remaining days. The GOP’s "ground game" will be fast and furious (no disrespect intended) and even the "lamestream media" won’t be able to contain it or ignore it. Facts will play an important part as will ordinary people who will voice their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Obama’s own words will be used to convict him and his administration of incompetence and broken promises. Candidate Obama and his cohorts knew the status of the economy in 2008, knew it very well and campaigned on a promise to fix it in three years along with closing "Gitmo" prison, and harmonizing Washington and the country. Now, he says, it was worse than we thought; Bill Clinton chimed in that even "he" couldn’t have done better, a self serving excuse. Once again the president’s lack of experience has come back to haunt him.

Mitt Romney has started making lemonade out of "lemons" partially created by the media. His remarks about the 47 percent who don’t pay income tax were blown way out of proportion. President Obama’s comments on this subject while appearing on the Letterman Show" were downright ignorant. He tried to draw a comparison of John McCain getting 47 percent of votes in the 2008 election with the 47 percent Romney referred to which is like comparing pineapples with cumquats.

The two numbers have nothing in common; 47 percent of the tax payers is an altogether different number than 47 percent of voters in an election; by quite a few million. It’s no wonder Obama doesn’t get the economy or how to grow jobs, he doesn’t understand basic math. What is clear is that those in the top 10 percent pay 71 percent of federal income taxes.

Romney’s straight forward answers will start to gather momentum as he demonstrates that he isn’t afraid to level with the people. Though his answers may lack eloquence (Haven’t we had enough eloquence for one term?) they won’t lack substance. Millions of voters are hungry for something they can believe in, and someone they can trust with America’s greatness and its future.

Media bias is getting a great deal of attention these days. Recently a reporter on ABC TV declared that he would not be voting this November for the reason that he didn’t want to bias his reporting. That sort of self restraint would be commendable if it meant anything.

You would think that someone in the communications business would know there are other ways to show bias than disclosing which candidate you would vote for, subtle ways.

His network has a bias as do most of mainstream media and it’s generally to the liberal side. Bias can be created by omission; by emphasis or even camera angles and cropping and many other ways. You don’t have to say, "vote for my candidate" to demonstrate bias.

Major media looks at FOX News as an ugly stepchild, one interested only in profits, to them a nasty word. They blame Fox for the confrontational form of reporting and news analysis experienced these days, and not surprisingly absolve themselves of any liberal bias, this done while peering down from their ivy towers. No wonder cable news is prospering.

The November election will hold our attention in the coming weeks. No one can predict the outcome for certain but the results will be illuminating to say the least. The 2008 election gives some interesting comparisons. It cost the Obama campaign $760 million, or $10.94 per vote for 69.5 million votes; McCain spent $346 million, or $6.78 per vote for 59.9 million votes. Result; the campaign that spent twice as much as their opponent, won by 10 million votes. You can be sure that both candidates are keenly aware of this fact. Don’t forget to vote.

Reynolds lives in Pleasant View. He is a retired businessman and volunteers for various community projects including building and donating child rocking chairs to special education students in elementary schools.